Don Jazzy Won’t Date Me Because He Prefers Endowed Girls –Eva
You rap and do make-up as well, how did you come about your make-up skills?
I have been doing makeup since my secondary school, while I was in SSS 3. The love increased when I got into the university because then, my friends started asking me to do their make-up and that was when I knew that I was that good. I did a professional course in make up and here I am today. I also train people, do make-up for wedding, fashion houses, for artistes and musical videos.
It seems you have your hands in many pies; was it intentional?
I’ll just say I am a very creative person. I love to do anything that has to do with arts. I actually did start with acting. I did a few movies back in the days, they never showed on TV. I would just say I’m a very creative person and I love to entertain.
Of all the areas, which was your childhood dream?
I really can’t remember me saying I wanted to be anything per se and sticking to it. I wasn’t that child that wanted to be a doctor, but I knew I was very serious with school. I went to school not wanting to be a doctor, lawyer or pharmacist; I just know I went to school. I did computer science because I could draw and I really wanted to do animation. I found out that instead of studying computer animation, I studied computer science because I thought they were one and the same and I didn’t do any counselling, so while studying computer science, I realised I was studying the wrong course.
When you took to music, did your parents give their support?
My parents are those kinds of parents that don’t push their kids; I was a good girl and I didn’t give them any headache. They didn’t have anything to complain about. They are the type that would advise you when you want to take a decision, tell you why you shouldn’t and why you should. They have been very supportive in whatever you choose. When music came and I was going into my final year, my dad did say when you graduate, you can come back and do your music and now he is very supportive; I think he is my number one fan. They gave their support with great advice, which you can’t do without at this stage, being that I’m so grounded by family I got to do things the right way. I don’t even jump out of the house; anytime I do, it has to be important.
Why rap music?
I started loving music very early in life, thanks to my mum. She loves every kind of music; so we were always listening to music in the house from Bob Marley, Fela to Sade Adu, Lionel Richie, Micheal Bolton. My brothers brought hip hop to the house and I just drew closer to hip hop and thanks to the fact that I could write, I started writing novels and short stories when I was in school. My dad did think I was going to be a writer; he was trying to get me published and the next thing you know I was writing rap and no longer writing stories. So, now I am writing stories and making them rhyme and making rap music from them. It actually started when I was 13 and I just stuck to it. I found it very easy to express myself, instead of just writing stories. I started writing stories and making them into music. Rap is just perfect, I love it.
What inspires your kind of music?
Everything inspires me – from my life to people’s lives, to what I have experienced, to what I see and the stories all around us. It is amazing but the gift to be able to transform the stories and translate them to music comes from God and I’m just grateful to have the gift.
Is it rap all the way for you or do you intend to go into other genres of music?
Right now, I have diversified. I was listening to so many things because of my mum and because of that, my music has been influenced by other genres; so it is not just straight hip hop. It’s hip hop, pop and reggae fused with many different things to create my style and my style is fresh, sexy and urbane with the Nigerian element. Rap is our culture and our rap artistes have gone international.
So, you abandoned computer science for rap music?
I did not abandon computer science. As a matter of fact, this is the time I can explore the entertainment industry and finally do what I had wanted to do for a long time. I could always go back and enjoy the fun of being a computer scientist. I still do that; we design stuff for my audios, CDs; all those are done with computers. We use computers in the studio, design artwork. I haven’t dumped it; I am going to go back and study computer animation but that is much later. Right now I’m young and energetic and I want to push all that into music.
Rap artistes are known to be wild; is that the case with Eva?
Why rap artistes? I think people have this misconception that everybody in music is wild and dangerous and on the fast lane. I really don’t think so; it starts with your root; if you are grounded from your root then you should be grounded as you grow up. It is an individual thing, it is not necessarily the music or genre thing.
As a young rap artiste, how many times have you dealt with advances from men?
I haven’t been unfortunate to be in a situation like that when someone comes out plain and say I want to have sex with you. Again, it boils down to personality. I feel you will get that kind of approach depending on how you put yourself; if you respect yourself, people will respect you. But I like to believe I am a fine girl and I have had men approach me for relationships.
Talking about men, what kind of men tickle you?
If he makes me laugh on the first day of communication, presentable and God fearing because I need someone that can double check me in my faith.
How you found him?
I haven’t found him.
Don’t you have a boyfriend?
No, I don’t have a boyfriend, I’m single.
And you are not ready for any?
I was ready one time in my life but I don’t think I am now. That time I was ready, I was jealous of all my friends that had boyfriends. I thought I was ready and I never had a boyfriend because I was too focused on school.
There is this rumour making the rounds that you are dating Don Jazzy. How true?
No, he is just a colleague. I am not his kind of girl. Don Jazzy’s kind of girls are very beautiful, very endowed. Tell them that I am lepa and tiny; Don Jazzy likes endowed girls. He can’t possibly want to date me.
What fires you up before any performance? Sex, drug or alcohol?
Before I go on stage, I’m the weirdest person; I just sit down and look stupid, stay calm, drink a lot of water. The crowd fires me up so I would be very unlucky if the crowd is not a gingered crowd. But if it is my kind of crowd, energetic people, fun loving, ready to scream then I would be fired. I don’t drink; don’t have sex; I don’t even have a boyfriend so I can’t possibly have sex.
As a designer, what do you think is the average Nigerian woman’s attitude to fashion?
An average Nigerian woman really wants to look good no matter how much they have; they just really want to look good. From our skin to our dressing, we look super great.
Tell us a bit about your family background.
I am from Delta State and as such, we love to eat starch and banga, which has become like our Christmas rice because we can only have it once in a while. We are Christians, we pray together, very small, simple, not extravagant. We don’t throw money everywhere and we are very happy. We are four and I am the only girl with three brothers. I’m actually the housemaid in my house and I can’t possibly be spoilt. I do all the work from laundry to dishes to cooking to cleaning.
How do you see style?
Style is you. It is what you are comfortable in, not what you see trendy in fashion. If you wake up tomorrow and decide to cut your hair, that is you and if you wear short dresses because you have beautiful legs. I don’t think style should be enforced. Style is whatever you do that makes you comfortable and you are not ashamed to walk on the street when you are done, that’s you. Looking good starts from your skin and a great sense of style; it is not about spending so much money on designer clothes. You can have all the brands in the world and still not know how to combine them. The money may not be an issue if you have a good sense of style.
What has been your most striking experience so far in life?
I’m a huge Tuface fan and I have never met him. We were out on a show and Tuface was greeting everybody and I was standing there and the next thing you know, Tuface looked at me and screamed my name, ‘Eva,’ and I did not even know that he knew me. That was very beautiful, having Tuface recognise me without me even saying, ‘Hi, I am Eva.’ Another was the collaboration I did with P-Square. These are people we grew up listening to and watching on TV. I did Shake it Down Low with Muna in their current album and that was a great one.
Source: punchng.com
